Means for applying tax stamps to packaged goods



F. A. MILLER July 16, 1940.

MEANS FOR APPLYING TAX STAMPS TO PACKAGED GOODS Filed Feb. 14, 1958INVENTOR FRED A. MILLER ATTORNEY Patented July 16, 1940 MEANS FORAPPLYING TAX STAMPS T PACKAGED GOODS Fred A. Miller, St. Johns, Mo.,assignor of onehalf to Roland M. Klemme, St. Louis, Mo.

Application February 14, 1938, Serial No. 190,402

1 Claim. (01. 81-43) This invention relates generally to improved meansfor applying tax stamps to packaged goods wrapped in transparentwrappingmaterial and more specifically to an improved means involving adevice capable of being employed to introduce a tax stamp beneath aportion of the wrapper of a package, such, for instance, as a package ofcigarettes, without disturbing the wrapper, the predominant object ofthe invention being to provide an extremely simple device of this typewhich is capable of performing its intended function in a highlyeflicient manner.

A number of the States of the United States have in operation State lawswhich levy a tax on packages of cigarettes sold within the confines ofthe States, and in most cases these laws require that sellers ofcigarettes purchase State tax stamps and apply them to the packages of Icigarettes before they are sold. The great difficulty in connectionwith. such a requirement is that practically all of thebetter knownbrands of packaged cigarettes are wrapped in Cellophane and because ofthe chemical characteristics of this material it is almost impossible tosuccessfully secure a tax stamp to the wrapper of a package ofcigarettes with the aid of known adhesive material. The result of this.situation is that a great majority of tax stamps adhesively applied tothe wrappers of packages of cigarettes come loose and are lost whereby adifficult problem is presented to the State authorities to decide whatpackages of cigarettes were sold untaxed and what packages ofcigarettes'had tax stamps applied thereto which subsequently came looseand fell from the cigarette packages.

To remedy the situation outlined above the device disclosed inthepresent application was devised, and the predominant feature of saiddevice is that by its use a tax stamp may be introduced beneath thewrapper of a package of cigarettes and adhesively secured directly'tothe paper or cardboard package in which the cigarettes are contained.Thus a face of the tax stamp-s may have ordinary glue applied thereto,just as in the case of an ordinary postage stamp, this glue serving tovery securely fasten the tax stamp to the cigarette package, and becausethe wrapper of the cigarette package is transparent the tax stamp isclearly visible at all times.

Most of the better known brands of packaged cigarettes have thetransparent wrappers applied to thejpackages in such fashion thatopenings in the wrappers are present at the bottoms of the narrowersides of the packages. points portions of the wrapper extend upwardly Atthese from the wrapper portion at the bottom of the package and suchupwardly extended wrapper portions are overlapped by other portions ofthe wrapper which extend about the sides of the package. The improveddevice disclosed herein 5 is so made that a portion thereof may beinserted between the upwardly extended portions of the wrappers and thewrapper portions which overlap said upwardly extending portions. Theportion of the device which is so inserted grips a tax stamp, theadhesive covered face of which is moistened, and by applying pressure tothe tax stamp in a manner to be hereinafter set forth the stamp may beadhesively attached directly to the paper or cardboard container inwhich the cigarettes are enclosed.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved device.

. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. '3 is a front elevation of the device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a View similar to Fig. 5 showing how the tax stamp is causedto adhere directly tothe cigarette package beneath the wrapper thereofand illustrating the manner in which the stamp- 5 gripping jaws of thedevice are separated preparatory to withdrawing the device from thepackage.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line 88 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line 99 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section similar to Fig.

9 but illustrating the manner of applying a tax stamp to a doublewrapped package.

In the drawing, wherein is shown for the purpose of illustration,merely, one embodiment of v the invention, A designates the improveddevice generally. The device A includes a strip of spring material Iwhich is bent double to provide substantially parallel portions 2 and 2that terminate in coacting jaws at the forward end of the device, saidsubstantially parallel portions of said strip being joined together by-aloop portion 3 at the rear end of the device. The resiliency of thestrip of material I causes the jaws at the forward end of the device tomove toward each other. The forward end portions of the strip portions 2and 2' are normally in contact with each other as shown in Fig. 1 andthe strip portion 2 is offset as indicated at 4 to provide a raisedportion which serves as a fulcrum as will be presently ex plained. Thejaw 5 provided by the forward end portion of the strip portion 2 is ofthe full width of the strip I, but the jaw 6 of the strip portion 2' isextremely narrow as shown in Fig. 2 and is located at the approximatecenter of the jaw 5.

The device A includes a jaw operating handle I which includes a headportion 8 that'overlies the strip portion 2 and is provided withdownturned flanges 8' between which portions of the substantiallyparallel portions 2 and 2' of the strip I are disposed as shown to thebest advantage in Fig. 3. The head 8 of the handle is more or lessloosely connected to the substantially parallel portions 2 and 2' of thestrip I by a bolt 9, the shank of which passes through alined aperturesformed through the head portion 8 of the handle and through the portionsof the substantially parallel portions 2 and 2 of the strip l which aredisposed between the flange 8' of said head portion. The bolt isprovided with a head that contacts with the head portion of the handle 1and a nut 5a is mounted on the lower end of the bolt for securing it inplace. The handle 1 includes also a rigid arm H] which extends upwardlyand rearwardly from the head 8 of the handle as shown to the bestadvantage in Figs. 1, 5 and 7.

Normally the jaws 5 and 6 are in parallel contact with each other asshown in' Fig. l, and when it is desired to move said jaws apart the armIE1 is depressed by pressure of the thumb thereagainst. When thishappens the curved portion Iii of the arm II] of the handle I forces theportion 2 of the strip l downwardly at a point rearwardly of the offset4 in the strip portion 2', whereby said offset portion is constituted afulcrum which causes the jaws of the strip portion 2 to move away fromeach other.

In the use of the improved device the arm I0.

is depressed to separate the jaws 5 and 6 and a tax stamp is introducedbetween said jaws as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 wherein the stampis designated by the reference character S.

It is important to note that when the tax.

stamp is gripped by the jaws 5 and 6 the narrow jaw 6 is in contact withthe gummed face of the stamp with substantial portions of said gummedface exposed at opposite sides of the narrow jaw. The exposed portionsof the gummed face of the stamp are then moistened with the aid of asponge or otherwise and the forward portion of the device with the stampgripped by the jaws 5 and 6 is inserted into the opening in the wrapperat the bottom of a narrow side of the package of cigarettes to bestamped as shown in Fig. 5. The forward end portion of the device withthe stamp gripped thereby is moved longitudinally of the narrow side ofthe cigarette package beneath outer portions of the wrapper of thepackage until the stamp has passed the portion of the wrapper whichextends fromthe bottom of the wrapper. The person applying the stampthen presses with his thumb: as shown in Fig. 7 to cause the exposed andmoistened portions of the gummed face of the stamp to adhere directly tosurface of the paper or cardboard container in which the cigarettes areenclosed. The arm IU of the device is then depressed slightly toseparate the jaws 5 and B and. while the stamp is still held by thethumb of the operator the device is removed from beneath the wrapper ofthe package. The

jaws 5 and 6 will separate slightly even though the operators thumb ispressing against the cigarette package as described because of the factthat the narrow jaw 6 willcompress the cigarette container slightlywhenpressure is applied to the arm II] as shown in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 9, the device A is illustrated in use, a stamp S being grippedby the jaws thereof. In this view the paper or cardboard container forthe cigarettes is designated by the reference character B while thewrapper portion which extends from the wrapper portion at the bottom ofthe package is designated by the reference character C. Also in Fig. 9the portions of the wrapper which overlap the wrapper portion C aredesignated by the reference character D, and the opening in the wrapperthrough which the forward portion of the device is inserted isdesignated by the reference character E. From this view it is plain thatthe stamp S is. moved beyond the inner end of the wrapper portion Cwhere it is caused to adhere directly to the container B as has beenexplained.

All of the popular brands of cigarettes are wrapped so that the wrapperincludes the wrapper portion C illustrated in Fig. 9 with the exceptionof the brand known as Old Glory. Packages of cigarettes of this brandare double wrapped in such manner that access may not be had to thesurface of the container B through the opening but instead this openingleads between inner and outer layers of the double wrapping. When taxstamps are applied to packages of cigarettes of this brand with the aidof the device A the stamp may be inserted between the layers C and D ofthe wrapper as shown in Fig. 10 and even though the glue of the stampdoes not securely attach it to the wrapper the fact that the stamp isgripped between the layers of the wrapper will securely hold the stampin place. Also in applying tax stamps to this particular brand ofcigarettesthe sharpened forward edges of the jaws 5 and 6,

may be employed to puncture the inner layer of the wrapper so thatthestamp may be carried beneath said inner layer and applied directly tothe container B. 1 I

I claim:

'A device for applying gummed tax stamps to packages beneath the outerwrappers thereof which includes a pair of jaws adaptedto grip a stamptherebetween, one of said jaws being of at least the approximate widthof a stamp gripped by the jaws and the other jaw'being of substantiallyless width than the first mentioned jaw so that portions of the gummedsurface of a stamp? gripped between said jaws are exposed at oppo-' sitesides of said narrowerjaw, an entering edge formed at the outer end ofat least one of said jaws and shaped and adapted to force its waybetween portions of the outer wrappers of the packages sothat theportions of the jaws which grip the stamp may pass beneath parts of saidouter wrappers, and means for separating said jaws when a stamp is to beinserted between said jaws or the jaws released from the stamp.

FRED A. MILLER.

